The Second Titanic
by 0erbayunFang
Summary: When Lightning, her family and her friends all get an identical letter requesting their presence at the launching and maiden voyage on the Titanic II, they think it's going to be a normal cruise. When is anything ever normal? AU, T for language. HopexLight, SnowxSerah, maybe VanillexFang PS:whoever says this should be in crossover can see my profile for details
1. Letters From The Captain

_**A/N: (This chappie's all right for me, 3,527 words) Hey people! So glad you've decided to read this. If you have, I love you! This is probably the first ever Titanic/Final Fantasy XIII story ever, and it's certainly the only one I've ever seen, so yeah.**_

_**I first thought of this story when I was playing a DS game involving the Titanic, and I thought, You Beauty, I'll write a Titanic story! LOL. I'll write the first five chappies for this, and then I'll go back to my other story(s) and do them in a loop. It seems the easiest way to do things on this site, especially when you have two or more stories running at the same time.**_

_**I know it says Hope/Lightning up there, but I will warn you, there will be some Snow/Serah fluff in here too. Maybe some Fang/Vanille, but it depends how I'm feeling :)**_

_**To avoid confusion, this story is AU, and nearly all of my Hope/Light stories are when Hope is 18 or over, or when they both are teens (as in my story, New Beginnings (please review!)). In Better Days, they're all in Oerba, but Dajh is NOT a crystal, which classifies it as AU. Not that I'm not saying that teens shouldn't crush on adults, because what's the point, they're bound to at some point in their lives. I'm just saying that I don't think they should be acted upon in the real world, where there are real laws.**_

_**So no more delaying, here is my Titanic/FFXIII story, The Second Titanic. Enjoy!**_

_**PS: these chapters are going to change perspective, but are going to be third-person, so have fun reading. No, really.**_

* * *

It was late morning. Lightning sat on her couch in her plain, bare apartment, idly watching the news. There was nothing else on, and she was bored, so GNN news was the only thing on that wouldn't drive her insane in the first ten minutes. The twenty-six year old wasn't really into it though; her mind was floating off somewhere even she didn't know. She was hungry, yet she didn't want to eat or make anything; she was tired, yet she didn't want to get up and go back to bed. She was in one of those I-don't-care, CBF* moods.

Her doorbell rang, startling her. _Who the hell could that be? I don't want to get up. Oh, what do I do? _She thought. _Stuff it; I'm getting up._

Slowly, she got up and headed toward the it was knocked again. _Can't they be patient? _She got to the door and opened it just as they were about to knock again. It was a postman, clutching a cream-coloured letter tightly in one hand, and his other was raised in a fist to knock again. He quickly lowered his fist and said, "A letter for you, Miss Farron." He politely handed her the envelope and quickly backed away.

Lightning shut the door, clutching the envelope. She frowned. It said on the front, _'Claire Farron,' _and her address clearly. It couldn't have been Serah; she texts, not give letters. She sighed and placed it on the coffee table. She would open it later.

_Ring, ring! Ring, ring! _The phone rang, startling her slightly. She sighed and picked up on the fourth ring. "Hello?"

"Omigod, Claire! Did you get a cream-coloured envelope just now?" Serah's all-too-familiar voice jumped out at her from the phone's speakers, nearly deafening her.

"Yes, I did. Why?"

"Get dressed, get over here, and bring that envelope with you!" Click.

Lightning put the phone back and sighed. Dammit, she wanted a relaxing day! Oh well. She would go see what all the fuss was about, and then come back home and sleep.

As she left, she did not notice the story on GNN News.

* * *

"This week marks the one hundredth anniversary of the tragic sailing of the RMS Titanic, the supposedly 'unsinkable' luxury liner that struck an iceberg and sank during its maiden voyage in 1912. Because the Titanic had been equipped…"

"Snow! Get in here!" Serah shouted. She had been looking over her letter, idly re-reading the words she had by now memorised:

_Miss Farron,_

_As you might well know, this week is the one-hundredth anniversary of the launching of the RMS Titanic, and we have been hard at work building its replica, the Titanic II. As a descendant of William O'Sullivan, one of the original Titanic's survivors, we would like for you to join us on the Titanic II's maiden voyage as a special guest. Your complementary ticket to your 1__st__ Class stateroom is enclosed in case you wish to join us._

_Hope to see you on the trip,_

_Captain Nelson Miller._

"Snow! Where are you?" Serah shouted again.

"Coming, babe!" she heard her fiancé shout back. She could hear loud footsteps in the hallway, and suddenly she could feel warm arms circling her from behind. Snow planted a kiss on her cheek, making her blush slightly.

"What have you got there?" Snow asked, planting another chaste kiss on her neck.

Serah fought not to giggle. "A letter. You have one too; it's on the counter. I'll let you figure out what it is, though, because I have a feeling that mine and yours are exactly the same."

He let go of her and reached for the envelope on the counter addressed to him. He eagerly opened it and read through it, a small frown on his face. As he reached the end of it, his eyes widened and his trademark 'Hero' smile was on his lips. He carefully put the letter down and turned Serah in his arms until they were face-to-face. Serah smiled.

"Well?" she asked.

"We're going on a cruise, baby!" Snow exclaimed, picking his future wife up in his arms and spinning her around once. He put her back down and kissed her lips once. Serah drew him back down to her height and kissed him again. When she kissed him, time slowed down, and everything blacked out but him and her, as though they were in their own private bubble, separate from the rest of the world and in their own.

The doorbell rang once, but Snow ignored it, still kissing Serah until she was breathless. The doorbell rang again, repeatedly, as though the person ringing it was irritated and impatient. Serah sighed inwardly and put both hands on Snow's broad shoulders, gently and reluctantly pushing him off of her. His blue eyes met her cerulean ones, so like her sister's.

"Lightning's here," Serah explained, smiling slightly. In truth, her head was still spinning from Snow's kiss. She shook her head slightly, dizzy. Snow plopped down on the couch and idly watched the television, where a black-haired woman was reporting a story for GNN News.

"…The new ship, while harking back to that bygone era, has been updated to reflect the advancements in shipbuilding technology since then. Titanic II will sail along the Atlantic Coast, completing the journey…"

Snow's eyes widened for the second time that morning. "Serah, Lightning! You're gonna want to see this!"

He could hear running from the front door to the living room, where Snow waited. He pointed to the TV. "Listen."

"…The operators of the luxury vessel have gone to great lengths to track down descendants of the original passengers of the ill-fated Titanic and have invited them to be special guests aboard this maiden voyage. For GNN News, this is Rebecca Smyth reporting."

Silence. Everyone was silent. Lightning raised an eyebrow, confused. "What was all that about?"

Serah turned back to her, a smile on her lips. "Read that letter you got out loud and find out." She had a mischievous grin on her face now, the same grin she had when they were children and she had been caught by her mother doing something she knew she shouldn't, but knew she wouldn't get in trouble for it.

Lightning sighed, ripped open her envelope, and read, "Dear Miss Farron. As you might well know, this week is the one-hundredth anniversary of the launching of the RMS Titanic, and we have been hard at work building its replica, the Titanic II. As a descendant of William O'Sullivan, one of the original Titanic's survivors, we would like for you to join us on the Titanic II's maiden voyage as a special guest. Your complementary ticket to your 1st Class stateroom is enclosed in case you wish to join us. Hope to see you on the trip, Captain Nelson Miller."

Lightning's eyes widened. "Oh, my God. Serah, did you…?"

"Got it right here," Serah stated, holding up her and Snow's envelopes. "Snow got one too, and I bet we're gonna get a call from-"

Before she could finish that sentence, the phone rang harshly, stopping her. She grinned, picking up the phone. "I told you so." She pressed the call button and said, "Hello?"

"Serah! Omigod, did you see the news?" Vanille's chirpy voice practically screamed through the speakers, deafening her slightly. She fought not to laugh as she put her on speaker.

"You're on speaker, Vanille. Lightning's here too."

"Omigod! Me, Fang, Hope, Sazh and Dajh all got letters saying we've got complementary tickets for a cruise on the replica of the Titanic!"

"Really? So did we!" Serah exclaimed, eyes bright. Snow hugged her from behind, smiling, and Lightning had the touch of a smile on the corners of her lips.

"Get over here Vanille; we want to see the letters!" Serah said, putting her free hand on Snow's muscled arm.

"Will do! I'll bring the others with me!" and with that, she hung up. Serah put the phone back where it was and smiled at Lightning from Snow's arms.

"Good thing you're off work for a month, isn't it, Claire?" Serah's smile widened. "I'm waiting for a thank you."

Lightning shook her head, smiling slightly. "_Thank you,_ Serah." She put heavy emphasis on the words 'thank you'.

Serah giggled. "Anytime, Claire!" she sang.

"Not on your life," Lightning said under her breath. Work gave her something to do, and she was on forced vacation for a month! Sure, she was still paid, but she was _off work for a month! _She needed something to do during the day or she would go mad. It was why she went to work in the first place.

When she finally broke away from her thoughts, she was met with the sight of them kissing. Lightning gritted her teeth.

"Get a room, you two!" she growled. Serah could do so much better than Snow!

"We have one, thank you," Serah replied, then pulled Snow back down for another kiss. Lightning rolled her eyes. Well, if she was happy, she might as well allow it. But the second she wasn't, she would be the first in line to punch Snow's cheeky little 'hero' grin off his stupid face. She turned away from the happy couple and almost ran to the guest bedroom she usually occupied when she was here, shutting the door behind her. She would leave them to it until the others arrived.

Meanwhile Serah and Snow were now on the couch, her legs tangled up in his, her hands in his hair as they kissed. His bandanna was discarded when they had made it onto the couch and was now lying on the ground. Serah pulled away slightly, and two pairs of heady blue eyes locked together. Snow smiled and ran his hands through her now-loose hair, twirling one of her strawberry curls around his finger. Serah smiled back.

"So…what are we going to do on that cruise, huh? You got anything planned?" Snow inquired. He was curious to see exactly what his future wife had planned.

"Yeah. You know how we don't have a fixed date for our wedding?" Serah replied, lazily tracing circles on her fiancé's broad chest with her finger.

Snow smiled and nodded. He knew exactly where this was going.

"I was thinking…maybe we could get married on the ship. Everyone will be there, and I always wanted a wedding on the water," she finished, planting a kiss on Snow's lips.

"I think it's a perfect idea. No Yuj to complain about what we have to wear, and what colour goes with what. Lebreau's gonna be pissed. She said she wanted to be the one to catch the bouquet." Snow smiled mischievously.

"Aw, I wanted Claire to anyway. I'm sure Lebreau can deal, can't she?" Serah rested her head against Snow's chest, listening to his heart. The steady _thump, thump, thump _relaxed her. She pushed herself back up, looking into Snow's eyes once more before pulling him in again for another kiss. She closed her eyes and gave in to the moment, all but hurled herself into it. All she could see was the backs of her eyelids; all she could feel was Snow's lips pressed against hers, leading them open and closed. The doorbell rang for the second time that morning, and when Serah pulled back Snow moaned, just a bit.

"Why do all our friends have the worst timing?" Snow muttered under his breath as Serah untangled her legs from his, replaced her usual side-ponytail, carefully pulled herself up and off of Snow, and walked over to the door to answer it, her head spinning again from Snow's kiss. She could still feel his lips against hers, as if he were still kissing her, and blushed slightly. She quickly shook her head and opened the door to find Vanille and Fang smiling at her. Fang was the same as ever, her hair still a mess and the same part of her hair braided behind her ear. She was wearing a plain black tee with black cargos. Vanille was still as bright as the sun; her bright-red hair in its usual style of two bunches on either side of her head. She wore a purple tee, a black plaid skirt and ballet flats. Serah looked behind them to find Hope, Sazh and Dajh staring back at her excitedly.

"Come on in, guys," Serah said, stepping back so they could enter. "I'll get Claire."

"No need," Lightning said drily. "I'm already here."

"Great! Into the living room, then," Serah chirped, leading the way into said room, everyone following behind her. Snow moved over so Serah could sit next to him, and everyone found a spot except Lightning, who had to take a spot next to Hope, perching on the arm of his chair, which was the point. Everyone knew that the 19 year old like-liked Lightning and Serah was sure that she liked him back, but both were too embarrassed to say anything about it. Lightning was stubborn as all hell, and refused to even admit that she liked him, and Hope could never get enough courage to tell her himself. Hopefully (pardon the pun) something would happen on the cruise that would make them see that they did like each other, and make them do something about it.

"Ok, we all know why we're here," Serah began, feeling a little nervous. Thankfully Dajh piped up from his place on his father's lap, "We're going on a cruise!"

Everyone laughed except Lightning, who merely smiled, and Serah felt less nervous because of it.

"Well, Dajh said it; we're going on a cruise. And," Serah looked over at Snow enquiringly, and he nodded. Smiling broadly, Serah continued, "Me and Snow are planning on getting married on the cruise as well."

There was a squeal from Vanille, and suddenly Serah was surrounded by her friends and her sister, congratulating her on picking a date, and then Snow was there, opening his arms to her, which she nestled herself into. Lightning smiled slightly. As long as Serah was happy, she would be. At least, that's what she told herself. She knew now that she could not talk her sister out of marrying Snow; she'd already tried when they'd announced they were engaged.

…

"_What? You're engaged? To _him_?" Lightning spat. Serah shrank back into Snow's arms. She looked up at him, tears forming in her eyes. Snow smiled down at her, and wiped the tears away. _

_She looked back to Lightning. "Yes, Claire, I am. And there's nothing you can say or do to convince me otherwise."_

"_You can do better than him, Serah! You know you can!" Lightning yelled. "Why do you choose him?"_

_Serah lost her temper. "Because I love him!" she exploded. "You don't understand! You will never understand until you find someone of your own! And I hope to the Goddess you do. Come on, Snow," Serah finished, tugging the bewildered and hurt Snow by the hand out of the apartment._

…

Lightning never wanted to make her sister yell or cry like that again, so she hid her disapproval behind a steel door and locked it. It was the first time since she'd first joined the Guardian Corps that Serah had yelled at her like that. She hoped that it would never happen again.

It had taken her a long time to see that she had indeed crossed the line, and even longer to be able to even _get _the opportunity to apologise to Serah and Snow, let alone do it. They had readily agreed to accept her apology, and everything had been fine-ish ever since. They'd had their arguments, but they were small and easy to resolve. Don't all families have those arguments?

She saw a hand flash in her vision and her own hand flashed out, gripping it hard in her own. It wasn't a minute later that she realised that the hand she now held belonged to Hope, who was looking at her, a concerned look upon his face.

"You alright? You were kinda spaced out there," Hope said, fighting a blush. She was holding his _hand. _It felt like it was on fire but in a good way, as did his cheeks, which told him he had lost his fight with his impending blush. He tried to look away, but only succeeded in locking his emerald-green eyes with Snow's blue. He smiled and winked at him, which only made him blush harder. Oh, how he wished Snow didn't know he had a crush on Snow's sister-in-law-to-be. He wished that no-one knew he had a crush on Lightning, but sadly, you can't always get what you wish. Even worse was that with this group, you _never _get exactly what you wish for. Hope grimaced at that thought.

He wondered how he was going to get through a cruise with this group if he could barely get through daily life being their neighbours. He smiled, and looked over at Lightning, who had the hint of a smile on her lips. He'd get through somehow.

* * *

_**Is this ending a little too abrupt? I spent hours reading through the chapter, and most of that time whiled away with me sitting on my laptop, staring at the second-last paragraph, going "Aaargh, how do I end it?" but I managed to end it, as you can see :P**_

_**Omg, I was choking a little on the fluff I was writing, because it was more than I have ever written in one chappie before, but it's all right, Slayzer mentioned that it tasted like cotton candy. At least I'll die a happy and hyper girl ;) **_

_**Btw, CBF means Can't Be F***ed **_

_**Can anyone who read the story please review; or, you know, PM me so I know who I can thank for the Hits count.**_


	2. Descended From Whom?

_**A/N: Hello again to all who have decided to read this latest project of mine! I'm on holiday for around two weeks so I should be able to do more chapters quicker. I checked the story stats and found 6 reviews waiting for me, so I was verrrrrry happy with that. Keep doing that, guys, and it will motivate me to get chappies up faster ;)**_

_**That wasn't a bribe, no, not at all.**_

_**Special thanks go to seeker of the skies and Envious sky, who have been with me for all the chapters of all my stories. Thank you Onee-Chans!**_

_**And now, the moment we've all been waiting for, including moi: the ACTUAL chappie. Here you go.**_

"So, who are you descended from?" Serah asked Hope, who was now lounging on the couch. The others had by now dispersed: Lightning had retreated to 'her' room, Fang and Vanille had gone outside to the backyard, Snow was in the kitchen and Sazh and Dajh were floating around somewhere, Serah didn't know where. She was in the chair beside the couch, looking sideways at Hope.

"Um…" he checked his letter. "Georgia Hutchins. I did some more digging shortly after getting the letter, and she was widowed a couple of years before the Titanic set sail."

"Cool."

"So, what about you? Who are you descended from?" Hope sat up, suddenly interested. Serah decided to take note of it.

"William O'Sullivan."

"Know anything about him?" Hope asked. "We can find out how old he was and everything." He seemed very excited about the prospect. Now why was that?

"Sure, get my laptop. It's in the study."

Hope shot up and eagerly ran to the study. Almost seconds later he was back, clutching the laptop like it was a prized diamond. He sat down, still clutching the laptop, and opened it to find it was on sleep mode. He waited for it to 'wake up', then opened a new internet tab. He felt the couch dip slightly as someone sat down next to him. Looking, he saw Serah, who was looking up at someone behind him. Hope felt a hand on his shoulder and looked behind him to find Lightning, who smiled slightly down at him.

"Who're you looking up?" Lightning asked.

"William O'Sullivan," Hope replied, typing in a web address: ' .com'.

"Will-you mean my great-grandfather? What happened to your ancestor?"

"Already done. Georgia Hutchins, widowed before the Titanic launched. Think I found the name of her husband, too."

"Yeah? Who?"

Hope smirked. "Michael Hutchins."

"Oooh, impressive. Think you can find William?"

"I _know _I can. Let's see…" Hope typed the search words _William O'Sullivan, Titanic_ and hit _Enter._ Only one result came up: _Eleanor O'Sullivan._

"Damn," Hope muttered, then clicked on the only option available. A whole profile came up, including a photograph of a young woman in her mid-twenties, with dark hair and darker eyes, and a two-year-old boy in her arms. A man stood next to her, with darker hair than the woman, and dark eyes. The caption at the bottom read, _Left to right: Eleanor and William O'Sullivan, Edward Ashton-Jones._

Lightning's eyes widened. "Nice job."

"Thank you," Hope replied, looking smug. "Nice to know my services are appreciated, although it wasn't really that hard to find." He looked behind him, meeting Lightning's eyes, and smiled wider. "You could've found it." He started laughing.

Lightning smacked the back of his head, momentarily disrupting his laughter. Every time she even went near a computer, something happened to it – it would shut down, smoke coming out of it, or something along those lines. Once, she was playing solitaire, and the laptop made a beeping noise, the screen went blank, and it short-circuited. Lightning found it annoying. Hope and the others found it funny as all hell.

Hope was still laughing, Serah was giggling, and when Fang and Vanille came inside and found them laughing, they started to as well.

"Let me guess…Lightning shut down the computer again?" Fang smirked, looking at the laptop still in Hope's lap, now back in sleep mode. He shut the lid. "She's worse with technology than me."

"Knock it off," Lightning almost growled, glaring at Fang.

"Hey, hey." Fang put up her hands in surrender. Everyone knew not to piss off Lightning, or she'd take on her namesake and skewer them alive. Hope looked up at Lightning, putting her hand on hers, still on the back of the couch. She gripped the fabric hard.

"Calm down," Hope coaxed, looking into her eyes. He knew that eye contact worked the best when he was trying to get her to calm down. Strangely enough, that only worked for him and Serah. Fang and Vanille would get icy glares, Sazh and Dajh wouldn't try at all and Snow would get a punch in the face if he ever tried; so pretty much everyone would rely on Serah and Hope to calm her down.

Lightning's shoulders visibly relaxed under Hope's gaze. Serah put a hand on Lightning's shoulder and she relaxed further. She shook her head.

"Sorry, Fang," Light apologised.

"No problem, Light-bulb," Fang laughed, slapping Light's back. Fang was very easy-going. She could befriend even the most cold-hearted of people – that's if they didn't piss her off first. If you pissed Lightning off, you got a punch in the face; if you pissed Fang off, you got a hell of a lot more than that. That being said, not many people tried pushing her buttons unless they had a death wish.

Surprise, surprise – Lightning, as it turns out, is _not _the scariest person on the Earth.

Lightning looked down at her hand, still sandwiched in between the couch fabric and Hope's hand, but it wasn't awkward. It felt nice. And Hope certainly wasn't complaining. Actually, he was blushing a bit.

"Flustered, Hope?" Fang asked, smirking.

"I can see it!" Vanille cried, slapping her hands together and skipping in front of him, bending over to examine his cheeks. Hope gripped Lightning's hand tighter, bending backwards against the couch in an effort to get away from her prying eyes and prodding fingers, now poking at his cheeks.

"He's all red!" Vanille giggled, continuously poking his cheeks. Hope frowned, wishing he could meld with the couch just so he could get away.

"All righty Vanille, back away," Fang said, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her back.

"You're no fun," Vanille mumbled.

"You enjoy tormenting the kid?"

"Hey! I am not a kid anymore!" Hope exclaimed, blushing even more.

"You were once," Fang pointed out.

"So were you," Hope shot back.

"Touché," Fang smirked again. "I'm only teasing ya, there's no need to get all defensive."

"Ok, how about we get some food?" Serah interrupted, getting up and heading over to the kitchen. "I'll cook; anyone wanna help me?"

"I will!" Snow shouted, his voice echoing from Serah's destination.

"No, you won't. I need someone who can cook more than scrambled eggs and bacon, honey. You can wash up after, though," Serah smiled sweetly. "It is your turn."

"Damn."

"How about you, Hope? You're good at cooking," Serah asked him, but before he could say no, he was already being pulled from the couch and Lightning's hand, and was being dragged into the kitchen by her surprisingly strong little sister.

"Actually, now that I think about it, I was going to teach Lightning how to cook more than toast for a while now." Serah let go of Hope in favour of Lightning, and dragged her into the kitchen while pushing Snow and Hope out.

"Have fun!" Serah trilled, pushing Hope and Snow further, into the backyard, and slamming the door shut.

"Great, now we're stuck out here. Has your fiancé had too much coffee today?" Hope grumbled.

"No, she just has some grand plan for…" Snow's eyes widened, realising what he was about to say, and then slammed his mouth shut.

"For? For what?" Hope asked, curious. Snow was notorious for keeping his trap open. He could never keep a secret, which was something that Hope could use to his advantage.

"For…for, uh…nothing!"

"Aw, come on, Snow! It doesn't concern me, so you can tell me!" Hope knew already that it concerned him, and maybe Lightning, too, if Serah has anything to do with it – and she does – but he wanted to hear Snow say it.

"Uh…" Snow looked left and right, hoping for a saviour, but there was none.

"Oh, Serah's gonna kill me."

…

"So…have you told him yet?"

"Told who what?" Lightning responded irritably.

"Told Hope that you like him!" Serah chirped back.

"I haven't, because I _don't._"

"Sure, sure…" she mumbled, "But you know you're only lying to yourself. He really isn't a kid anymore."

"I know that! I do! But…" Lightning couldn't figure out an argument. She hated when she couldn't fight back, in _any _situation, be it on the battlefield or at home, arguing the point with her all-too-stubborn little sister.

"But nothing. Look into your heart, Claire. You'd be surprised what you'll find there." Serah grinned. "He hee, it rhymes!"

Lightning rolled her eyes. Was she actually wishing for the cruise to come sooner? Maybe she was. She looked over to the back door, where she could see Hope talking with Snow. Yeah, she was. She could feel a smile grace her lips, oblivious to her little sister's curious stare, or maybe simply ignoring it. But Lightning wasn't one for showing her feelings. Serah frowned, frustrated. How could she convince her sister that she liked – hell, maybe even _loved – _Hope? Maybe time, and the impending cruise, will tell. Serah only hoped she could be patient enough to see it through.

…

"Snow! You realise that Light is going to kill you, right?"

"Yep."

"Of course you do." Hope was frustrated. He and Serah were going to have a little chat when she let them back in for the washing up. What the hell were they cooking, anyway?

"Hey, do you know what they're cooking in there?" Snow voiced the question before Hope could.

"How should I know? I'm not cooking it." Hope looked into Snow's blue eyes and added, "You're trying to distract me, aren't you?"

"I've said everything I know! It's Serah who's the mastermind, not me!"

"Oooh, ratting out your fiancé, that's real nice," Hope remarked sarcastically.

"Hey! Just speaking the truth!" Snow paused, thinking. "She's really gonna kill me."

"Really? What was your first clue?"

"No need for sarcasm!"

"Really? I see plenty," Hope shot back.

"Yes, you do."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hope demanded.

"Nothing whatsoever."

"Hey guys, lunch is ready," Serah trilled from the now open back door. "Come on in."

Snow looked too happy to see her, whereas Hope gave her a little glare, but nevertheless he followed Snow to the kitchen, slamming the door behind him. He brightened a little when he saw Lightning covered in flour.

"Wow, what happened to you?" he teased.

"She tried to grab the flour for me," Serah answered for her.

"Looks like she failed," Fang noted from the couch. "Jesus, Light, thought you were graceful."

"Shut up before I skewer you with your own spear!" Lightning growled.

"Hmm. Fang-kabob has a nice ring to it," Fang remarked, smirking.

Lightning rolled her eyes. Hope started sniggering, but quickly hiccupped himself to seriousness when Lightning shot him a glare, which effectively shut him up. Snow clapped him on the back and stage-whispered, "You sure know how to pick 'em."

Hope whispered back, "You're only digging a deeper grave for yourself," effectively reminding him of how much trouble he already was in with Serah. Snow gulped.

"Can I talk to you for a second, Snow?" Serah must've picked up something from Snow's expression, or she has a sixth sense. Snow sent Hope a look that read, 'Save me!' to which Hope shook his head, grinning. He could save himself; it wasn't as if Serah was going to kill him outright. She'd leave that to Lightning.

After she'd had a shower.

Her entire body was covered in the white powder. It was even in her hair, which made her age a couple of decades. Lightning grumbled to herself as she made her way through the hall to the bathroom.

…

"How'd it go?" Serah asked Snow curiously.

"Shit."

"What happened?" she asked, wrapping her arms around his buff frame. He put his arms around her in return.

"You'll hurt me," he whispered in her ear.

"Did you tell him?" Serah asked, eying him suspiciously.

He sagged slightly. "Yes." Serah shrugged.

"It doesn't matter, as long as he keeps it a secret from Claire. But I sincerely doubt he will. He trusts her."

"Will I survive this time?" Snow teased, looking down at her.

"Hmmm. That is yet to be seen," Serah teased back, tapping his nose lightly with her finger. He grabbed it, pressing it to his chest, then leaned down and kissed her senseless. She couldn't think, couldn't do anything but kiss him back. He nipped her lower lip. Not wanting to be the only one feeling weak at the knees, she nipped back. He moaned, a low sound in the back of his throat, and it made her spine tingle and her head spin. As they came up for air, she ran her hands through thick blond strands, locking her blue eyes with his. They smiled at each other.

"Looks like we finally caught a break," Snow noted, leaning down to kiss Serah again, but before he could, there was a knock at their door.

"Damn it," he mumbled, reluctantly letting her go. She stood on her tip-toes to give him a peck on the cheek, and then opened the door to find Hope standing there. He looked behind her to find Snow – still alive, but rumpled. He had no trouble figuring out what they were doing. He smirked.

"Just checking to see if you were still alive, Snow."

"Actually, I'm glad you're here. Come inside, won't you?" Serah smiled, all but pulling him inside the room and shutting the door. Hope fought the urge to smile at Lightning, who looked on.

…

Lightning looked on as Hope was pulled through the doorway by Serah. The corners of her lips turned up. So Hope wasn't lying when he told her Serah had something other than a wedding in mind for the cruise, which Snow was pretty much a puppet for and that Serah had no clue that Lightning knew. Her smile became wider. She and Hope had decided before he knocked on the door that it was probably better if Serah stayed clueless. It would be easier on the both of them; she would have an upper hand in this battle between Serah and herself, and Hope would have an excuse to break up Serah and Snow's little sessions for her. Two birds with one stone. Dammit, what were they talking about in there? She inched forward towards the door, and then froze, thinking.

Surely Hope would tell her what they had said to him? They were, after all, both targeted by Serah's inner match-maker. They were in this together. And he had warned her of the impending plan between Snow and Serah, which Snow had helpfully told Hope – not of his own volition, of course.

"You right there, Sunshine?" Fang's voice floated from behind her, startling her out of her thoughts. She turned around as normally as she could to find her leaning against the wall, arms and ankles crossed.

"Yeah, fine." She then walked to her room, pulling the door shut. And then it dawned on her: there was a tiny hole in her wall that Snow had yet to fix – she wasn't even sure he was aware of it – and it gave her a good view of the room next door – which just so happened to be Serah and Snow's. Lightning allowed herself a grin. _You two are not going to get away with this._

She stepped up onto her bed and looked through the tiny hole in the wall. She could see Hope, now taller than Serah and about a head shorter than Snow. What was frustrating was that she only caught little hints of what they were saying. Why were they whispering like that? It was more than frustrating; it was infuriating. But the tiny little wisps that she did catch were…interesting.

"…she's…when…drunk." That was Serah. The look on Hope's face was pretty damn priceless, though. His mouth took on the shape of an O and he was shaking his head.

"…crazy…" she heard Hope say.

"Do you want to be with her or not?" Ah, much better. It seemed they were no longer whispering.

"Um – well, yeah, but…" Hope stuttered, only to be interrupted by Serah.

"I have seen what she was like before she met you. She was so cold, like ice. Then she met you and a couple of those hard and icy outer layers peeled away. She is my sister. I want to see her happy and only you could make her happy, I know it. You know she already has a soft spot for you, and she basically told me she liked you in the kitchen."

"Basically?" Hope inquired, picking up on the vagueness with which she said that word.

"In a way, yeah, she did. You know she doesn't really like to show her emotions, especially not ones like that. She'd just ignore them, thinking they're not necessary. But now she can't ignore them anymore; I've seen it in the way she looks at you."

Lightning paled; had she been that obvious? She mentally cursed the fact that she could not hide it better.

"Really?" Hope asked, intrigued.

"I haven't," Snow remarked dubiously.

"That's because you don't pay attention like I do. That, and the fact that she is _my _sister," Serah replied, her attention already back on the silver-haired man. "And you know you like her too."

Hope blushed scarlet. "Shut up."

Lightning fought the urge to chuckle. No matter how old he looked, inside he was still a kid. Surprisingly, it made him more endearing to her. She shook her head and continued to listen. She was already highly aware she needed a hobby; this was the last bit of proof that she needed to know that.

"Ah, young love." This time it was Snow's turn to make Hope uncomfortable. Lightning fought the urge to make a new hole in the wall.

Hope's blush, if possible, deepened. "Shut up," he repeated.

"So, you going to help us, or not?" Serah asked, distracting him.

Hope sighed. "Do I have a choice?"

Serah brightened. "Nope, you don't."

When Hope crossed the room to open the door, Lightning ducked down from her vantage point – which will probably be used more often until the cruise – and opened the door to her room, letting Hope know that was where she'd gone. She lay down on her bed, suddenly exhausted. She'd have to watch her back on the ship.

A polite knock on the door startled her, which was stupid; she already knew who it would be. She turned her head towards the door to find Hope's signature green eyes staring at her. She smiled slightly.

"Come in," she said tiredly. "And close the door behind you."

Hope stepped in and closed the door, as she said. He then sat down on the desk chair that was tucked into the corner of the room facing a desk, which was littered with papers. Lightning then covered the tiny hole in the wall above her bed with blu-tack – not the best she could do, but for now it would suffice. She didn't want Serah getting suspicious and using that hole to eavesdrop. She then sat back down, crossing her legs, and asked, "What happened?"

"Uh…" his blush returned. "We're gonna have to be careful with our liquor. They think that if we get drunk at their reception, good things will come of it." He shook his head. "Thankfully, that's their last resort plan."

Lightning nodded. So _that's _what they meant. "Anything else?" _That I don't know, _she wanted to add, but thought better of it.

"They're being careful with me around. I don't know everything yet, but they did lecture me about…"

"About how I don't like discussing my feelings? They're damn right." When Hope eyes her curiously, she enlightened him, "There's a hole in the wall I can use to eavesdrop. I've only ever used it once, just now."

"Ah. So, what do we do now?"

Lightning crossed her arms. "Now we wait for the cruise."

_**A/N: Done! It was a little bit difficult thinking up what I was going to write for this chappie, because it's basically a continuation of the first (I was originally going to put this in with my first chappie, but I figured it would be a bit long, plus I actually wanted to get you guys interested in the story, which has been done (thanks guys!) so I shortened it, but I did add some new things in for your enjoyment, including Serah's plan for Light and Hope :P). **_

_**It was a little bit of a pain figuring out who would be distantly connected to who, but as you can see, I have figured it out and will incorporate it into future chappies, which will be fun for me and suspenseful for you *grins and laughs evilly.***_

_**Leave your love for the story in reviews or comments, or whatever the hell it is now, and I'll see you soon!**_


	3. The Beginning Of Interests

_**A/N: (3,162 words, not bad) Hi guys, and welcome to the next chapter of The Second Titanic! Yes, I know I said that this would take priority, but you have to remember that I am a BETA reader, and sometimes that takes top priority or my clients will kill me. Seriously, they would.**_

_**Ooh! Big news! I HAVE A NEW 3rd COUSIN! Her name is Scarlet Emma...isn't that the cutest? And to add to that, we're not getting a second story on the garage anymore, but on the house! It's happening early next year. Exciting stuff :P**_

_**Story time! Read on ;)**_

* * *

Lightning sighed as she stood on one of the many walkways to the Titanic II's interior. The mighty ship was huge, but she was dwarfed by the liners alongside it at dock. Her sister was behind her, taking in the ship in front of her. Snow was next to her, her hand in his, also looking up at the ship. Hope, Sazh, Dajh, Fang and Vanille were doing the same, the two young women a little closer than was normal for just friends to be comfortable with.

The line was slowly but surely moving along as staff analysed the tickets and ushered the many passengers inside the grand ship. Aforementioned staff had smiles upon their faces as they met the many descendants of Titanic's survivors, many of which were already working as stewards on the ship.

"I can't believe we're here," Lightning muttered to herself. She heard a chuckle from directly beside her and turned around, startled to find Hope right next to her. He grinned.

"Amazing, isn't it? I was reading up on the original Titanic and found a lot of the survivors thought it was a maze to start off with."

"Interesting to know," Lightning remarked drily.

"Good afternoon. May I see your tickets?" A young-looking stewardess asked shyly. Lightning and Hope both handed their tickets to her. As she inspected them, a strange smile crossed her cute features. That smile sent shivers down Lightning's spine. She had a bad feeling about this girl, no matter how young or pretty she may be.

"Ah yes. Go right through." She ushered them inside, that same manic gleam in her eyes and that same twisted smile twisting her features. Lightning fought a shiver and followed Hope through to the entrance hall. It was a spacious room where all the passengers were socialising, getting to know each other as their relatives in the past must have done before them.

As Hope and Lightning waited for their remaining friends to be ushered through, a man who looked to be in his early sixties approached them. His hair had long-since greyed, though stubborn streaks of dark-brown dared to show. He had friendly-looking blue eyes, the beginnings of a beard on his chin and wore a captain's hat and uniform. This had to be the Captain of the ship, Nelson Miller.

"Welcome aboard the Titanic II! I'm Captain Miller," he greeted, shaking hands with Hope, who looked slightly flustered. At that moment, another person walked up to them. She had sparkling jade-green eyes, dark-red hair and glasses, which gave her an important and elegant look about her. She had on a white coat with a doctor's seal upon it.

"Hi there, I'm Elise Young, the ship's doctor." She smiled, enhancing her looks. Her laugh-lines showed through. Hope grew, if possible, even more flustered.

"It's nice to meet you both. I'm Lightning Farron, and this is Hope Estheim," Lightning replied smoothly. "My sister, her fiancée, and our friends should be inside soon; they weren't far behind us."

"Excellent! You won't mind if we keep you company until they arrive?" Miller asked, his blue eyes dancing happily.

"Of course. Not a long wait, though," Hope answered, gesturing to the entrance they just came through, where there was a tell-tale glimpse of pink hair bobbing through the sea of people towards them, dragging Snow behind her by the hand.

"Hey, guys! Sazh, Dajh, Fang and Vanille should be here soon," Serah chirped happily, allowing Snow to wrap his arms around her and pull her to broad chest.

"Serah, Snow, this is Captain Miller and Dr. Elise Young. Doctor, Captain, this is my sister Serah and her fiancée, Snow Villiers."

"Lovely to meet you," Elise replied coolly, extending a hand for Snow to shake, which he did so happily. He then turned to shake the Captain's hand, with Serah still in his arms. At that moment Sazh, Dajh, Fang and Vanille joined their group, as well as a blonde man in his mid-twenties and an African-American male in his early thirties.

"Hi there, I'm Chris Holondale," the blonde introduced himself, smiling slightly. He was wearing a black suit with a matching bow-tie. "I'm the trumpet player and bandleader of 'The Icebergs,' our jazz combo aboard Titanic II."

Everyone cracked a smile at the irony of the band name.

"I be Isaiah Maryland, and I be serving up the most delectable rum for the passengers," Chris's companion introduced himself. Lightning rolled her eyes at his impersonation of a pirate. _Just because we're on a ship, _she thought to herself, rolling her eyes when he wasn't looking. Isaiah wore a pale-blue suit with a black bow-tie, and had a trimmed black beard.

Lightning wondered if Lebreau was invited to this predetermined get-together of the Titanic's survivors. As if thinking of the black-haired youth summoned her, Lebreau waltzed up to their group, with Maqui, Yuj and Gadot in tow.

"Hi guys! Good to see you!" Lebreau exclaimed happily, then upon seeing Chris, cooed, "You're cute," unabashedly. Chris took it all in stride, smiling slightly. _He probably gets that all the time, _Lebreau thought, a wicked smile taking her features. That didn't mean she liked or wanted him any less. He had that bad-boy appeal, despite the suit and the parted hair, like he had a deep dark secret. That only made him yummier in her eyes. And all the more determined to find out just what the blonde was hiding.

Elise was smirking at Chris. She then quipped, "Looks like you have a new admirer. Lucky you."

Lebreau grinned. "I intend to do more than just admire him." She winked at Chris, who, despite the innuendo, took it well.

By now the others were starting to feel the tiniest bit uncomfortable, Lightning and Hope especially.

"Your name, sweetheart?" Chris asked. "If I'm going to have you admiring me, I at least need to know your name."

Lebreau's smile widened. "The name's Lebreau," she replied. "This is Gadot, Yuj and Maqui." She gestured to the trio as she spoke, and at the sound of their name, nodded or waved their hand in greeting.

"What about them, Lebreau?" Lightning inquired, gesturing to Fang, Vanille, Sazh and Dajh.

"Where are my manners? This is Fang, Vanille, Sazh and his son Dajh," Lebreau rounded off, suddenly serious.

"So, Captain, what about your job outside...well, this?" Hope asked, interested.

"Well, my boy-"

"Here we go," Elise muttered under her breath.

"I've twenty years of service in the British Royal Navy and I am looking forward to my first civilian command," Miller replied, mercifully keeping it short.

"And what a vessel she is, sir," Hope replied.

"I didn't know you were interested in this sort of thing," Lightning said to Hope, who grinned.

"I'm nowhere near the expert she is," he explained, pointing at Vanille before continuing, "but I am interested in this."

"Yes, she is rather fine. Titanic II is a return to a long-lost era." He looked at Lightning and Hope, and asked, "Are you two the ones getting married here? You make a fine couple."

Lightning and Hope both blushed. Hope shook his head. "N-no!"

"My sister and Snow plan to, though. And just so you know, we," she gestured at both Hope and herself, "aren't a couple. We're just friends."

The Captain sighed. "Ah, young love," he muttered, as if he hadn't heard Lightning's last comment. He took a look at his wrist-watch. "Time to return to the Wheelhouse; we're leaving soon. You'll find that your belongings have already been delivered to your respective cabins. Oh, and Hope, if you have any more questions, just drop by the Wheelhouse. Enjoy the trip!" And with that he was gone.

"I should be leaving too; my shift starts soon anyway. Should you require medical assistance or just want some information about the original Titanic, please don't be afraid to drop by the ship's hospital. And don't worry; despite what Captain Miller says about returning to the past, I can assure you that our facilities are quite modern." She winked and then was gone.

"Well, if the Captain has to go, it's time to return to the 1st Class Lounge. There will be grand music there tonight, so drop by if you get the chance," Chris invited. He turned to Lebreau and winked. "Of course, I'll probably have to expect you."

"Of course," Lebreau purred. Chris then left.

"Well, I should get going too, and set up the bar in the 1st Class lounge just over yonder," Isaiah said, pointing at the adjacent room while looking at his watch. "If the music is not enough to tempt you to visit, then maybe my fantastic rum drinks will."

"Ooh, I'm definitely coming now," Lebreau murmured. "Hey, Isaiah, mind if I come with? I could show you a thing or two about alcohol."

"Really now?" He raised an eyebrow in interest. "You a bartender too, are you?"

"Only the best in Bodhum," she replied.

"Fantastic! Well, come with me and I'll show you my humble home for the rest of the trip," Isaiah said, taking Lebreau with him as he left. Before they could disappear entirely into the crowd, Lebreau turned back and waved.

"Wow. People sure are friendly," Hope muttered.

"I'll say," Lightning mumbled back. She then nudged Hope and said, "Remember the stewardess who processed our tickets? The one with the twisted smile? She's coming this way."

And sure enough, when he looked, there was the young-looking stewardess, heading right towards them.

"Least she's not smiling like that anymore."

"Good afternoon, miss. I trust you're well?" she asked politely, though there was the hints of that manic gleam in her eyes that Lightning had noticed earlier.

"We're well, thank you," she answered pointedly.

"Are you Miss Claire Farron and Mr Hope Estheim?"

"_'Claire'?_" Hope asked, astonished.

"Later," Lightning said back. "Yes, we are."

"Very good, then. I'm Andrea, your stewardess. Let me show you to your cabins," Andrea replied smoothly. Lightning and Hope exchanged glances, but followed Andrea.

As they walked up the Grand Staircase, Lightning took the chance to take her in. Andrea's hair was black as night, with cold blue eyes, high cheekbones, and a smirk that never seemed to come off. Lightning instantly had her guard up. There was something..._off _with the girl, something she just couldn't place. She wouldn't be surprised if she suddenly turned on them with a knife or a gun. Oh, how she wished she had her Blazefire Sabre right now. She just didn't feel safe without it. Lucky she brought it, but it was in her cabin, and it wasn't going to do any good there if nothing turned into _something._ It was something she just didn't want to take a chance with.

In short, Lightning didn't trust the stewardess as far as she could throw her.

She could tell it was going to be a long cruise.

* * *

"Well, here we are. Hard to believe that the price of a ticket for 1st Class back in 1912 was $4,700 in pounds. In today's economy, that'd round up to about $50,000." Andrea was stubbornly filling the silence with random facts about the Titanic and its costs. Lightning would've preferred if she just stayed silent but sadly, her wish was not fulfilled.

"Good thing your tickets were complementary, huh?" Andrea then looked sideways at Lightning, as if she could see she was pissing her off – and enjoying it. That automatically made Lightning hate her even more than she already did. She was glad to escape her when she opened the door to her new cabin – which was messy.

"Damn," Lightning grumbled to herself as she cleaned up the mess that someone had obviously left for her. She wouldn't have been surprised if it was her new stewardess.

As she looked under the bed for more mess, she discovered something even worse than a messy room. It was a tiny speaker, something someone would use to listen for information. She immediately set about looking for more. She found three altogether – one in the en suite, one under the bedside table and one in the wardrobe, of all places. She immediately started looking for cameras afterwards, and found four, in roughly the same places as the mic-sensors. While she was looking for clues as to who may have put the devices in her room of all places, she happened across something interesting – a diary, obviously left for her to find. She flipped it open, offhandedly noting there were pages torn out of it. There was only one she could read:

_Entry 1: Thursday, April 11, 1912_

_It is difficult to fathom that I am finally on my way to America! It has cost me almost all of my savings, but I think it will be worth it. I am quite sad to be leaving the land of my birth, but as Mother has now passed on, it no longer holds my allegiance._

Lightning stood there, re-reading the entry, shocked. For there, underneath the original entry in different handwriting, read:

_There is a bomb on board the Titanic II. Prepare to die!_

She paled. This had to be a joke, one big massive joke. It had to be. She pocketed the mic-sensors and the tiny cameras after deactivating them, and almost ran out of her room. She found herself in front of Hope's door, frantically knocking until he answered and almost got whacked in the face with her knuckles.

"Light, what's going on?" Hope asked, placing both hands on her shoulders. She shook her head.

"I need to come in. It's important."

Hope nodded seriously and closed the door behind her. She immediately looked under the bed, in the wardrobe, the en suite, and under the bedside table. There she found tiny mic-sensors and cameras identical to the ones she'd found in her room. Hope looked on at her weird behaviour with a raised eyebrow, trying not to look at her butt, which was pointing in his direction as she searched under the bedside table. He reddened slightly.

"Lightning-" he was interrupted by her nearly shoving the cameras and such under her nose – after deactivating them.

"Look," she said forcefully. "I found stuff like this in my room, too. Someone's watching us, and listening to our conversations."

"Uh, why?" Hope had to ask. Lightning pulled out the note she had separated from the original diary entry. "Look."

As Hope read, he paled. When he finished, he looked up at her, complexion a startling grey.

"This has to be a joke, right? One big joke. Someone obviously knows who you are and wants to toy with you. That has to be it."

Lightning shook her head. "I don't think so."

At that moment, a knock on the door sounded in the spacious room, startling both Lightning and Hope. He went to answer it, but Lightning threw out her arm to stop him. "I'll answer it."

She opened the door to find Andrea at the door, looking a little uncomfortable.

"Sorry, miss, but you weren't in your room, and since you and the young gentleman Hope seemed to be friends, I thought this is where you would be." She took a breath and continued, "Pardon the interruption, but the purser asked me to deliver this to you." She handed a cream-coloured envelope to her. "I'm afraid he didn't tell me who it was from," she continued, then, noticing her pale complexion, commented on it. "You look a little pale. Is everything alright?"

Lightning shook her head. "No, I'm alright, thank you." Andrea then left and Lightning shut the door. She ripped open the seal and pulled out the note inside it. She began to read, Hope looking over her shoulder so he could, too:

_This is to let you know that I have a little challenge for you. You've already found the diary...good! As you can see, there are some pages missing from it. Find these pages and you'll find out more about the bomb I've placed on board, and quite possibly save the ship. You might ask why you are the recipient of this note _("Of course," Lightning mumbled to herself) _but for now, that is my secret and mine alone. But trust me, all will be revealed in time. One more thing: don't tell anyone about it; I'll be watching you, and your little friends too..._

"Well, looks like this cruise has gotten a lot more interesting," Lightning muttered, folding the note and placing it in her coat pocket.

* * *

_**Mwahahaha! How do you like this chappie?**_

_**So – plenty of things to ponder: who sent the letter, the diary and the note? Who bugged the rooms? And what is up with Andrea? That is my secret :P**_

_**Review, review, review! I will love you forever and you might get a special shoutout if the review or reviewee is awesome.**_

_**See you next time! Ja ne!**_


	4. Life Has Many Pages

_**A/N: (4,302 words) Hi, and welcome back to The Second Titanic! Around last week, my friends and I grouped in my Granny-flat garage to verse Cid Raines (If this is a spoiler, I am so very sorry). All I know is that apparently Serah randomly went into Claire's room and said "Get up, we're killing Cid," (Claire and Serah are twins, and those names are their aliases on this site; mine is Fang). It took a while for Claire to realise that Serah meant that they were to go to my house to do it, but she eventually got it and they made their way to mine. I was fed up by what felt like the millionth time I'd versed him (if you wait long enough he casts Death on you, the bastard), so I gave the controller to Claire, who had finished the game and 13-2 before I'd even gotten the game myself. She, being her, blitzed him in under ten minutes, and managed to stagger him multiple times. As she was doing this, I began to notice that battles are a flurry of movement; everyone moves so damn fast when you're not playing it yourself. I asked them, "Is this what it looks like to you guys when you watch me play?" Serah replied, "Yes," while Claire said, "Quite similar, (Queue deepened voice) but I'm better than you." Yes Claire, you are better than me, but remember Astor Protoflorian (did I spell that right?), how everyone who had played the game in your house were owned by it? Remember how **_**I ****_owned _him _instead?In under five minutes, may I add? Yeah, you may have experience, but I have by far the better strategy. Keep in mind also Barthandelus and how I defeated him fourth go, while your brother is STILL on his fifth go and hadn't touched it since, and you took Goddess knows how many goes. I may have failed on Cid, but I blitzed through what you struggled with. Nonetheless, we make a good team. Go, Claire! I am also so proud of myself, because now although Serah is still shit-scared of Astor, she knows that it can indeed be floored._**

_**Holy crap, this takes up like half the page, sorry XD**_

_**Thanks to Haikairi, seeker of the skies (Claire), Envious sky (Serah) and Guest (anonymous). You guys spur me on to keep writing, especially Claire and Serah. Thank you soooo much Onee-Chans!**_

_**Ok guys, thanks to the silent readers out there who only make the Hits count grow! And here's your chappie; thanks for putting up with my insanely long AN. Enjoy, Kupos! (I'm in a Mog mood, he's soooo cute!)**_

* * *

Lightning and Hope had silently agreed not to tell Serah and the others. The last thing she needed was to know there was a bomb on board the ship they were getting married on. So when Serah and Snow asked them to go on a tour with them of the Titanic II, they declined, choosing instead to go on their own tour – a tour to search for those damn diary pages, and the bomb. And anyway, how could they tell anyone? The mystery psycho said they'd detonate it if they did. They were stuck.

They mutually agreed to go to the Wireless Room first. They knew that it would be the logical place to plant a bomb, since it was naturally off-limits, as there were some things that were saved from the original Titanic, or had been remade with the remains of said artefact as a guide. And they were right: it was off-limits when they got there.

"Shit," Lightning hissed when she saw the red-velvet rope separating them from the room. She turned back to Hope, eyebrow raised. "Any ideas?"

"Well, one is that we could sneak in, take our chances and most likely get caught. Or we could sneak in with the tour group, the one that comes before Serah and Snow's."

Lightning checked her watch; it was around 11 in the morning. Snow and Serah's tour would be...she let the thought trail, knowing full-well it wouldn't work that way.

"No, Serah and Snow are in the first group, and that one's gonna make their rounds in an hour," Lightning disagreed.

"Damn," Hope muttered. He'd forgotten about that. "Ok, then, how about the one after?"

Lightning pondered that for a second. "We could chance it, but we have no idea when this psycho's going to just get bored and blow up half the ship. The only option that's safest for us is to join Serah and Snow on the tour, and on the way, see if we can dig up anything." Lightning then non-conspicuously took a glance around to see if anyone was around. There was nothing but a camera – and footsteps sounding in the corridor ahead.

The words from the note flew through their minds at the same time, but before Lightning could say or do anything, Hope's mouth was on hers. She had to give him credit – he was a quick thinker. She let her lips kiss him back; whether she was doing it because she wanted to avoid getting caught or whether she just wanted to was beyond her. But regardless, she felt tingles run down her spine from where their mouths connected, making her shiver. Her hands were on his chest, feeling the muscle underneath his rather thin shirt. He brought his arms around her back, letting them twine around her waist and pull her closer. She let her arms snake around his neck, and her hands entwined in his silver hair. She grabbed a handful and pulled him as close as she could manage without toppling them both over. Whether she wanted this or not when his mouth first found hers, she didn't want to stop now, and neither of them seemed to mind. At least, until a tentative voice sounded, "Claire?"

Hope and Lightning jumped apart, their already fast-paced heartbeats increasing in speed when they found they were caught. Hope glanced at Lightning; her cheeks were tinted pink, her lips swollen from their kisses, her eyes darker than before. Hope suspected that he looked the same. _Maker...I kissed Lightning..._

"Claire? Sorry to interrupt, but me and Snow wanted to find you and Hope to make sure you hadn't changed your minds," Serah started uncomfortably.

"We'd love to come," Hope said quickly, then turned to Lightning. "Right?"

"Yeah. Of course." Lightning's brain was still replaying the kisses they'd shared.

"Ok, then. Meet us at the bottom of the Grand Staircase; the tour starts there." Serah then turned and left, obviously thinking they'd get back to their private 'moment'. If anything it made things awkward.

"Shall we?" Hope inquired, letting her move in front of him.

"S-sure," Lightning stuttered, hating herself for it.

"Do I make you nervous?" Hope chuckled at the absurdity of the question. When is she ever nervous?

"Shut up."

Hope grinned and followed her.

* * *

As Serah and Snow waited for Hope and Lightning at the bottom of the Grand Staircase, Serah related to him the incident between them she'd walked in on.

"...I walked around the corner and she was in his arms, kissing him! I thought I was going to die from happiness!" Serah turned to face him, hands twined together in front of her, a happy smile on her lips. Talking about kissing just made Snow want to kiss Serah even more than he already did.

"That's great, babe," Snow replied, wrapping his arms around her waist in a hug.

"Get a room, you two." Serah jumped out of his arms when she heard Lightning's voice behind her. She turned to find Hope and Lightning standing there. Hope's cheeks were still tinted pink.

"You're one to talk, from what I hear," Snow replied casually. Lightning's eyes lit up in fury.

"Shut it, Snow, before you get a broken nose. Won't look too good on the day with a black eye, now would you?" Lightning shot back.

"Ok, guys, enough with the verbal spar. Here comes the guide!"

They all turned to see the guide, who was actually Chris, come their way.

"Hey everyone! For those who don't know me, my name is Chris, and..." he trailed off as a wolf-whistle sounded near the back of the throng of people. Everyone turned to see Lebreau standing there, grinning. She shrugged. "Hey, he's cute."

Chris cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Moving on. My name is Chris, and I will serve as your guide. If anyone has any questions about the original Titanic, just ask me. Now, if you will follow me, we will start off our tour with the Wireless Room, modelled exactly like the one on the original Titanic."

Hope and Lightning glanced at each other, surprised at their own luck. Then memories of the kisses they'd shared earlier overtook both of their minds and paralysed them. They didn't move until Serah looked at them and said, "You coming or what?"

Hope cleared his throat nervously. "After you."

Lightning fought the urge to smile. Seemed Hope had turned into a gentleman before the cruise. There was nothing gentlemanly about the way he kissed. She fought not to blush as she ran after Serah, Hope following behind.

…

"Here's the Wireless Room. It was state-of-the-art for it's time," Chris said as they arrived. Hope couldn't help but glance over at the spot where he had kissed Lightning. "Alright guys, we do have access here, but only for a little while, so go through. Do not touch any artefacts. You can take pictures, but _do not touch the artefacts._"

Hope glanced over at Lightning. This was the moment they'd waited for. Hope nodded at her, and she immediately began to scan the desk in the corner, the noticeboard and the floor. At last she struck gold in the desk's drawer, where an old-looking page was. She immediately smoothed it out. It looked like it had been hastily stuffed into the drawer. She flipped it open and read:

_Being a young, unwed mother of an illegitimate child, there was naught but ridicule and scorn for me and for my son. I dearly hope that this new country will be more welcoming than was my former one._

She frowned. This woman was clearly suffering in her former country. This was a clue; she was sure of it. _A young, unwed mother...illegitimate child..._these phrases flew circles around her brain, battering her skull with their need to be understood.

"Pardon the interruption..." Lightning looked up. A woman who looked to be in her late twenties looked back at her. She looked vaguely familiar, with baby-blue eyes and hair black as night. She looked like Andrea, except that this woman's eyes were warm, whereas Andrea's were colder than ice. She realised...

"You're Rebecca Smyth, the reporter," Lightning said slowly. Rebecca nodded.

"That I am. I'm just doing some research for my story on the new Titanic."

"Really? Anything good so far?" Lightning questioned, keeping her distracted.

"Well, the last message sent from the Wireless Room was interesting. Simple and to-the-point. It said, 'We are sinking fast. Passengers being put into boats.'"

"Interesting..." Lightning let the sentence trail off. Her mind was on the diary page still clutched in her hand. She hastily folded it and put it into her coat pocket.

"Must be going soon," Rebecca murmured. "Wonder what else I'll find." She then snapped a couple of pictures of the room in general and stepped outside the room. Hope then made his way over to her.

"Found nothing here. What'd you find?" he asked.

"I found another diary page. I can't say anything about it here; too many people and any one of them could be the psycho we're looking for." She sighed.

"Pardon me," Chris said to Lightning, almost making her jump. "I thought I saw this," he handed her an envelope, "fall out of your pocket."

Lightning said thanks and took the envelope. She put it into her pocket, not wanting to open it yet. She then stepped out of the room and into the corridor, waiting for Hope to follow her. When he did, she pulled him out of sight of the camera and the entryway to the Wireless Room, silently ripped open the cream-coloured envelope and read, Hope looking over her shoulder much like last time.

_You're doing well – you've found another diary page. Perhaps there is indeed hope for the new Titanic after all...we shall see, no? I must reiterate – tell no-one about the bomb! If you make any attempt at all to either alert the authorities or leave the ship, I will detonate it at once. Now...shouldn't you be looking for more diary pages?_

"God," Lightning hissed as she stuck it unceremoniously back into her coat pocket. "This person is really sick. Why would they want to blow up the ship? And why did they have to give the first note to me?"

Hope shrugged. "I don't have a clue. It seems all we can do is keep searching for those diary entries."

"No. I don't want to drag you into this."

Hope grabbed her shoulders and pushed her into the wall as gently as he could without letting go of her; nonetheless it made her gasp and her heart race.

"I've already been dragged into this. I want to find out who bugged our rooms. And to do that, I need you. Don't try to do this by yourself; this is too much, even for you." He leaned forward, effectively trapping her between his body and the wall. "You always want to do things by yourself. You never ask for help, even when you know you need it." His lips were at her ear now, his warm breath tickling her and making her neck flush. He smiled. There was no way he was going to let her get away with this. "Why do you do this to me? To our friends and family?"

Lightning gulped, trying to catch her breath, which had become short and laboured. _I have to get out. _The other side of her, the Claire still inside her, asked, _But do I want to?_

She put her hands on his chest, pushing gently. Hope's gentleman side let himself be pushed away, knowing she needed space now.

"We need to get back before the group realises we're gone," Lightning explained, voice slightly breathy. She hated that. How did he _do _this to her? How did he sneak through her tough layers and enforced brick walls of her soul, and wiggle his way into her heart without her noticing? The day she'd met him, he was just a fourteen-year-old boy struggling through his parent's divorce. Then he was fifteen, trying to look after his father after his mother died. At seventeen, he was just going through the motions to make his father happy, to make him proud. And now here he was, nineteen years old, standing in front of her now, and asking her the questions her sister had asked plenty of times before. _Why _was she so stubborn? Why _didn't _she ask for help, even if she knew she needed it? How could she do that to her friends and family? The answer was simple: she loved them too much to ever let them get hurt. It was the same situation here.

"You didn't answer my questions, Light." Hope's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Later. I'll answer them later, Hope," she said back. She then rejoined the group, leaving Hope to follow behind.

* * *

"I'm going to go back to my room, Serah. See you later, ok?" Lightning informed her sister, who nodded.

"Meet us in the 1st Class Lounge, ok? Everyone's meeting up there." Serah thought for a minute and asked, "Hey Claire? Is Hope going with you?"

Lightning raised an eyebrow. "To my room? I don't think so." She didn't tell her that she'd left a little note in his pocket, telling him where she was going to search next. She then set off in the direction of her room until she turned a corner and walked as fast as she could to the Cafe Parisian to search for the other diary pages. When she got there, she found Isaiah sitting at one of the cream-coloured tables near a window, idly looking at the early-afternoon sun as it shone down upon the sea, making it sparkle like diamonds embedded in the water.

"Hey. You're Lightning, right?"

"Yeah. That'd be me," Lightning replied, non-conspicuously looking around for a diary page.

"Haven't seen you in the Lounge yet. I do hope you'll stop by and sample some of my great specialties," Isaiah remarked, the sun-lit water sparkling in his eyes.

"We're planning to tonight. Everyone's meeting there," Lightning stated, still keeping an eye out for paper. It was silent for a time until Isaiah said to her, "My great, great auntie was a family servant when the big ship sailed long ago."

"Really?" Lightning enquired, somewhat interested.

"Yep. She barely made it off the ship with the other women in the family. She swore never to set foot on anything that floated again," Isaiah continued, turning to look at Lightning, who nodded and asked, "What about you?"

"Me? I love being on the water. Especially if it's a ship as fine as this one." With that, Isaiah stood up and stretched. "Well, I gotta go. Nice seeing you."

"You too," she called. As soon as he left, she immediately started combing the place for the elusive diary page. She finally found it, neatly folded up on a windowsill. The cream of the page camouflaged it, as the whole place had a cream-and-brown theme to it. She unfolded it to read:

_William and I were among those ferried out to the mighty Titanic when it paused in it's trip near Queenstown to pick up our Irish contingent of over 100 passengers. We are of course travelling steerage, but my cabin, while small and compact, is clean and comfortable. The sheets had never been slept in before now and they smelled quite fragrant as I tucked William in._

_William..._that rang a bell in the depths of her mind. She knew the name, but she didn't know from where. A hand on Lightning's shoulder briefly startled her. She turned around, hastily stuffing the page in her pocket along with the second note and the other diary page. She was relieved to find it was just Hope.

"I got your note. There's no way you're doing this alone."

"Can't we have this discussion later? It's up to the Poop Deck now," she replied, turning to travel up the ship to said deck, Hope following behind. Avoidance was clearly her strategy, but for what, and why? He suspected he'd find out soon enough.

Meanwhile, Lightning was still caught up in her thoughts, so much so that she didn't notice she had made it up to the Poop Deck until the sunlight was blinding her and she had run into Captain Miller. Literally.

"Ah, good to see you again," Miller greeted. Lightning wished she had sunglasses at that moment, but it would hinder her vision about as much as the sunlight.

"Why aren't you in the Wheelhouse?" Hope inquired, curious.

"I needed some fresh air. You know, my Grandfather was a child aboard the original Titanic. He was one of the lucky ones. Very few survived. Fortunately this time, we've plenty of lifeboats, so even old coots like me won't have to go down with the ship." Hope was about to open his mouth to speak, but Miller interrupted with, "Of course I'm very confident that the lifeboats won't be needed. My Grandfather sailed 3rd Class. It's really very sobering to think that a descendant from such humble roots is now in charge of such a magnificent ship. It's good to be reminded of these things now and then."

Hope grimaced. He had a feeling that Miller would be wrong on that count if they fail.

"Well, I've stretched my legs; back to the Wheelhouse for me. See you kids around." And with that, Miller turned and re-entered the ship.

"I see what Elise meant about him," Hope mumbled. Lightning eyed him curiously and he shrugged. "She said he could go on for hours about stuff like that."

"Whatever. We need to look for that page."

So they split up to search. This time it was Hope's turn to find the page. It was pinned to a pile of rope, flapping in the breeze. He picked it up and called, "Hey Light! I think I found it!"

he could hear footsteps and suddenly Lightning was right there. She took the page from him and read:

_Tonight as I sit down to write these words, I feel a certain sense of control that I thought had been missing from my life as of late. I really believe this will be a truly unforgettable voyage for us to be a part of!_

"Unforgettable it was," Lightning mumbled as she shoved the page into her pocket along with the rest. It wasn't over, though. As soon as she did, she heard Hope call out, "Light! Get over here!" she immediately hurried over to find yet another envelope in Hope's hand. He handed it over to her and she fought the urge to rip it to pieces. Instead she calmly opened it to find yet another note.

_You continue to impress me with your observational skills. You've now collected a number of diary pages and for this, I reward you with a clue, a tiny hint about my identity. I am one of the people you have met and interacted with on this ship. So sorry I cannot tell you more, but really, where would be the fun in that? Your stateroom is really quite luxurious; though I think it's time you took a little trip through Third Class._

"Great. More places to go. Yippee for us," Lightning snapped as she stuffed the note back into the envelope and flung it away. Hope caught it before it could go too far.

"Don't throw it away; this is evidence."

"Of what? To give to who? We can't tell the police! I shouldn't have even told you!" Lightning exclaimed, almost at the edge of her temper already.

"Shhh. It's ok." Hope gently put his hand on her shoulder for comfort. "We'll be ok."

"How can you be so sure of that?" Lightning frowned and looked away, but his hand caught her chin and tilted it up so her eyes met his.

"I'm sure. I can feel it. We'll get through this, we'll get off the damn ship and we'll go home. After celebrating the wedding, of course."

"How could you forget?" she teased, trying to put her anger at the back of her mind. She'd save it for the idiot who dared mess with her, her family and her friends.

Hope raised an eyebrow. "Did you just make a joke?"

"Yes, I did."

"I find that hard to believe," he replied drily.

Lightning rolled her eyes and poked him in the forehead, hard.

* * *

_**A/N: Chappie done. Yay!**_

_**For some reason I can't define, I love Andrea a little too much...maybe it has something to do with the fact Serah commented she had an Ari aura...well, it certainly helped.**_

_**I know I've forgotten something I was supposed to write down here...oh wait...nope, lost it. Dammit. And I know I'm going to remember it after I post this. Oh well...**_

_**if you have any questions, just PM me. Oh, and if you get the chance, could you please review? Please? If you don't I'll throw an angry Mog at you...or maybe a ten-year-old Andrea...now THAT'S a scary thought!**_

_**One more chappie, and I'm moving on with my other story, New Beginnings. I love this website.**_

_**See you soon, Kupos!**_


	5. A Diary And A Drinking Buddy

_**A/N: (2,447 words) Ah, welcome back, Kupos! A few weeks ago, on Monday before our school came back, I visited Claire and Serah. Serah, if you don't already know, has an obsession with something called the Hylian Loach. I was recording around twenty-three minutes of random babbling about Serah's fishing in TLOZ OOT on Claire's iPod (If you add together the two videos I made; one was ten minutes and the other thirteen). The first recording was ten minutes filled with random things like Serah claiming that the Loach was her rebellious teenage son, that Snow Villiers is the father, and that Vincent Valentine is the step-father. I wasn't sure if I heard correctly all the many times she called every fish that was under 20 pounds a 'stupid midget fish'. She kept catching the same 18-pounder, she did it about four times. The second video was pretty much the same, except that near the end their older brother came home from school, which was around 4:15 in the afternoon. He went into his room, and as we continued to watch Serah fish for her 'son', we could hear him put on a French accent as he spoke for the Loach (now you know where Serah and Claire get it from). At around the eleven minute mark, Serah finally hooked the Loach and reeled him in. As the usual words flashed over the screen, I brought the iPod closer, as this was a special occasion (she had only managed to catch the Loach two times before this). Do you want to know how much he weighed? Drum roll, please...he weighed a whopping 35 pounds, the biggest you could catch it at in that particular Zelda game. When she saw how much it weighed, she screamed and rolled around the floor as she cried tears of joy. She immediately sprinted upstairs and came back down with – you guessed it – a DSi, so she could take a picture of this miraculous occasion. She then proceeded to rock back and forth, back and forth, on the presumably cold tiled floor, tears still streaming down her face, muttering to herself happily. Yes, because that's a normal reaction to catching a big fish, yes; that's perfectly normal. We're currently trying to post the videos we made onto YouTube, but the damn computer won't accept the files...oh well.**_

_**Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed, all of my FF stories are now over 10 reviews and 1k hits; I'm proud of myself. **_

_**This chappie is just a little something extra, something to take Lightning and Hope's minds off the bomb, making them free to have some fun, like they were supposed to do in the first place ;)**_

_**Aaaannnyway, on with the story.**_

* * *

Lightning sat in the 3rd Class Saloon, hand under her chin as she breathed in the slightly cooler air coming from the open windows along the creamy-pale wall. She had already found the diary page but refused to read it yet; she wished for privacy when she finally did. Once the gathering in the 1st Class Lounge was done, she would return to her stateroom to read the pages she had collected that day, and replace them inside the diary she felt in her pocket, leaning against the side of her thigh. She heard the saloon doors open and immediately stood, automatically tensing at the unknown threat. Good thing it was only Chris.

"Hope you don't mind my hiding in here. Your black-haired friend certainly wasn't joking when she said she wanted to 'admire' me," he muttered nervously, running his hands through his already-tousled blond hair. Silence followed his words as Lightning thought about to whom he was referring. As she came to the conclusion that it would have to be Lebreau, she nodded and allowed him to approach the window next to hers.

"It's good to see you out and about," Chris decided, looking sideways at the beauty beside him. He was in no way attracted to her, but he couldn't deny that she was an attractive woman; he wouldn't be a man if he didn't notice at least that much. _Hope is a lucky man, _he thought, smiling slightly as the thought came to mind. He continued, "I like to take in the good salt air out here because it helps to clear my head before I play." He paused, frowning slightly, before continuing, "Did I tell you that my great-uncle was a musician aboard the original Titanic?"

Lightning felt her eyes widen in interest. She turned to face him, expression enquiring more information. He cleared his throat and continued, "He and his band-mates went down with the ship. But they do say they played to the end, and that their soothing music helped in the prevention of mass panic. I really hope I won't have to do that on this particular trip." He sighed and pushed himself off of the windowsill he was leaning on. He checked his watch and paled.

"God, I'm late. Traysee and the others are going to kill me." He looked over to the pink-haired soldier, now turned back to face the waning sunset. "See you tonight, probably."

By the time she had processed his words and turned to his window-sill, he had already disappeared. She decided that she would follow suit; there were still many rooms left to search, and presumably many pages still to be found.

…

Lightning entered her spacious and luxurious stateroom and shut the door behind her, pleased with herself. She had managed to search a 3rd Class Cabin on display (her soldier's rank helped to get her past the guard) and the upper deck before having to retreat to her stateroom to dress for the evening.

She had stared at the suitcase filled with her semi-formal to formal wear, a small frown upon her face. She had no idea what the dress code was for this, but as it was the Titanic and her friends and family were down there, she decided to dress firmly in the middle. That way, she wouldn't be too embarrassed if she was over or under-dressed, as it would only be by a little bit.

With this in mind, she decided on a see-through black blouse with a matching singlet underneath, dark-blue jeans and black boots. As a precaution, she grabbed a jacket to ward off the weather should it be cold and placed it next to her outfit, happy with what she'd chosen. Half the battle was won; now all she needed to do was freshen up, or in this case, have a nice warm bath because her back was sore from bending over to look under certain in-the-way objects for those damn pages. She made sure to lock the bathroom door, just in case.

When she was feeling better and smelling beautiful, she finally emerged and checked the clock.

"Damn it," she hissed under her breath as she saw it was already 9:00pm. She'd only arrived at 6! She hurriedly dressed, cursing when she heard a polite knock at the door.

"Hang on!" she yelled in the direction of the door. "I'm coming!" They knocked again, once, as if to say, _I can wait. _

_You'd damn well better wait, _she thought to herself as she finally managed to pull her jeans up and fasten them. She zipped over to open the door, and found Hope and Serah standing there. He looked handsome in a semi-formal suit, and he'd left his hair untouched, which Lightning, for some reason, was glad about. Serah looked amazing in her pale-pink knee-length dress. The short sleeves frilled at the tops, as did the skirt. As such, it gave the illusion that she fluttered when she moved.

"Oh, Claire! Nobody told you it was formal?" Serah immediately exclaimed. "I was going to put you in a dress!" she added, disappointed. Hope tried in vain not to laugh at this.

"No. No way in hell are you going to put me in a dress," Lightning stated, slightly peeved. She knew Serah would do this.

"Fine, but I will for the wedding, and for the reception," Serah replied, and Lightning shuddered in response.

"I will hate every minute of it," she warned darkly, turning to put on her boots and clearly expecting them to follow her inside. Serah practically bounced inside, beaming. And Hope followed absent-mindedly, his thoughts firmly focused on how Lightning would look in a dress.

He smiled to himself, happy that Lightning couldn't read minds.

…

Lightning descended the Grand Staircase, slightly relieved that Serah had not managed to put her in a dress. She had also managed to keep her outfit; which was formal enough that Serah was satisfied, and comfortable enough that Lightning was happy as she could be in her current situation. Hope followed slightly behind her, wanting to be as close to her as possible without her worrying about the loss of her personal space. His mind was somewhere else, though – still wondering how Lightning would look in a dress. He knew she would look stunning whatever she was in, so he decided to put the thought in the back of his mind. He would think about it later.

As they entered the 1st Class Lounge, everyone was there. Lebreau had a seat right in front of the band, eyes idly focused on Chris and stars in her eyes. Gadot and Snow were at the bar, downing their first drinks of the night. Fang was there too, though her first drink was downed a while ago, and she was now on her third. She was still calm, every movement sure and graceful, like she wasn't tipsy at all. She sure looked like she could handle her liquor. Vanille was beside her, obviously tipsy by the sound of her. She had her arm around Fang's waist and her head in the crook of her neck. Yuj and Maqui had their heads together, obviously working on something. Elise was sitting in the corner lounge, looking tired but happy to be there. She had a drink in her hand, albeit untouched. She set it down the moment Lightning, Hope and Serah arrived, relieved she would not be alone.

"Thank the Lord you're here. I really did not want to sit there all night while everyone else was drunk," she explained when she'd walked up to them and said hello.

"Snow and Fang are the worst while drunk, trust me," Hope replied, casually looking over to the bar where said people were. "They pick fights with each other. When that happens, casually back away from the area."

"How do you know that?" Lightning asked, suspicious. She had been around them while they were drunk, it was true, but she didn't know Hope had been as well. She was slightly curious, despite herself.

Hope shrugged. "Snow invited me to a night out to celebrate when Serah said yes to him. Fang came too."

"Oh."

"Yeah. It wasn't pretty."

"Ok, that's enough," Serah cut in, slightly peeved that her soon-to-be husband didn't inform her of this. "Want a drink, Lightning? Hope?"

"I would love one," Hope replied.

"No thanks," Lightning muttered.

"Come on, Light! Let yourself go a bit," Hope pleaded, then leaned forward to whisper, "You can focus on the bomb tomorrow. For now, just loosen up please."

Lightning sighed. He had a point; she could focus on that particular issue later. But...

"Please?" Hope added, sensing she was about to cave in. Lightning bit her lip but nodded.

"Fine, but only _one_," she said. Hope grinned as he led her to the bar, away from Fang and Vanille and Snow and Gadot.

"Good to finally see you here," Isaiah beamed as they sat down on a padded stool. "What would you like?"

As Hope ordered for the girls, Lightning was struck by the fact that he really wasn't a little boy anymore. How did he grow up so fast, and without her noticing? It was baffling to her. Her fingers touched her lips, where he had kissed them earlier that day. While one part of her desperately wanted to feel that again, the more rational part of her kept shaking its head, and the rest of her watched the conflict rage on inside her, confused. Was it a fluke, what happened? Did he feel what she did during the kiss? Why, besides the obvious, did he kiss her? Did he want to? These questions flew around her head, battering her skull and making her dizzy as they repeated themselves. She fought not to sigh.

"Light?" Hope's voice cut through her trance. She flinched slightly, and then her vision cleared and Hope's emerald-green eyes were looking into her cerulean ones, worry etched into them.

"You were staring at me, and your eyes were blank. Are you ok?" he asked her.

Oh, Goddess, she was staring? And worse, he noticed! While her mind floundered, desperately searching for an answer to give him, her mouth formed the words, "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

Hope shrugged, then turned back to the bar as Isaiah handed them each their drinks. Lightning downed hers quickly, setting the glassware down with a _clack_. Hope, meanwhile, was savouring his, and Serah was swishing it around the glass as she took her time. By the time Serah and Hope were finished, Lightning already had a second shot downed and had asked for a third. Hope's eyes widened.

"Thought you said you only wanted one?" he inquired, slightly baffled.

"You're the one who said I needed to 'let go'," Lightning replied, miffed.

"Oh, let her go! Sunshine needs to loosen up!" Fang laughed from behind them. They turned as she took a seat next to Hope, and she slapped him on the back. Vanille followed, and immediately clung to Fang. Apparently she was a clingy drunk. She giggled then hiccuped.

"Let her have some fun!" she giggled.

Lightning rolled her eyes as she downed her third drink of the night, knowing it would be a long one.

* * *

_**Short chappie, I know, but I really want to get back to New Beginnings desperately! I can hear it calling to me! What would you do?**_

_**Leave your love in reviews and views, and I'll see you later!**_

_**Ciao, Kupos!**_


	6. Memories of the Night Before

_**A/N: Why hello, my pretties! Hope you enjoy this one; I've been juggling this with TLTD, so chances are that TLTD will be up soon, so don't worry. **_

_**Dislcaimer: I own absolutely everything...no, not really**_

* * *

When Lightning woke up, with an almighty hangover, she was quite startled to see that she was not in her room, but in someone else's. She didn't remember much of last night, only blurry images. But those blurry images were enough to stitch together some of last night's happenings.

...

_Lightning sat on the same barstool she had all night, drinking shot after shot while listening to her friends' conversations._

"_...oh, but Fang!" Vanille pleaded, obviously very, very drunk, clinging to said woman's arm._

"_Not going to happen. Not again," Fang slurred._

"_What happened?" Hope asked._

"_No idea," Lightning answered, downing yet another shot. By now she had lost count of how many she had consumed. She felt light-headed, slightly dizzy, and around Hope she felt very warm, but that was probably just the alcohol talking._

"_How much have you had to drink?"_

_Lightning looked over at Hope, who was eyeing her curiously. "Could ask the same of you," she replied, gesturing to the half-empty drink in his hand. He laughed._

"_I've lost count, to be honest. They're more annoying when they're drunk," he chuckled, gesturing to Vanille, who was apparently glued to Fang, who was at least semi-content with sitting still for the moment, until Snow came bumbling up to her, and challenged her to an arm-wrestling match. Lightning was somewhat pleased to see Fang win it hands-down._

"_They're also more bearable when you are, too." She stood up, then, dizzy, clutched the nearby column to keep herself steady._

"_You have no sense of equilibrium now, do you?" Hope asked her, then stood up himself. He was a little wobbly, but otherwise was quite steady. "Need help?"_

"_I'd be fine if I could walk in a straight line," Lightning spat irritably, suddenly annoyed at her lack of balance. She was even more pissed off at his ability to keep himself even remotely upright. Hope raised an eyebrow at her obvious irritation._

"_I'm sorry for my sister's rude behaviour," a sweet voice sounded from behind Hope. He smiled and turned to see Serah in her pretty pink dress, positively beaming, if a slight bit tipsy. "What she wanted to say was that she'd be delighted with your help."_

_Hope was very much suspicious of her behaviour. Was this part of the plan she'd mentioned before the trip? His thoughts were interrupted by Lightning, who said, "I meant no such thing." Her tone was not entirely rude, but it did contain a certain bite to it, one that said 'leave it the hell alone'. Her sister seemed to get the message, and backed down quickly._

"_Light," Hope started, and gently tapped her shoulder. "Maybe we should get you to bed, huh?"_

_Lightning suddenly felt very drained, as if her last stores of energy had been used up in that one second when their eyes met. Hope felt her shoulders sag in defeat, and she nodded tiredly. He could hear Serah's failure to stop herself from laughing, and he rolled his eyes. She could be really immature sometimes._

…

Her memories stopped when they were halfway up the steps to the elevators. She was startled out of her thoughts when three knocks sounded on the door.

"Who is it?" Lightning asked, irritated.

"It's Hope." His reply was muffled by the door between them. "May I come in?"

Lightning relaxed slightly. It was just Hope. "Come in."

The door opened, and Hope walked in. He was wearing an old T-shirt and pyjama bottoms, and his hair was messier than usual.

"I'm just checking on you. You seemed pretty tired after we left," Hope explained as he sat down on the bed, keeping a respectable distance between himself and her. He chuckled slightly as Lightning's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What happened last night? I can only remember walking up the steps to the elevators."

"Yeah. You sort of...fell asleep on me," Hope answered awkwardly.

_Well that's embarrassing._ It did explain why she was missing some memories, however.

"I carried you into the elevator and set you down in front of your room. I woke you and asked for your key, but you just fell asleep again. Since I felt a bit uncomfortable going through your pockets, and I didn't want you to sleep on my couch, I gave you my bed."

That was actually nice of him. If their roles were reversed, she'd have done the same thing. _Only because he's a friend, nothing else,_ Lightning told herself.

After a while, Hope relaxed his tense muscles. He truly thought she was going to have a problem with this, but she seemed fine. In fact, when she got out of bed, on the way to the door, she leaned down and gave him a platonic peck on the cheek. "Thank you."

It was lucky she left the room after that; his cheek was tingling where she had kissed it, and both were burning, which meant he'd started to blush. Good thing he hadn't told her everything else that happened.

…

"So, what's on the agenda today?" Hope asked from the bathroom. They'd moved from his room to hers to look at the diary pages Lightning had collected. She looked up from her place on the couch.

"Well, I've already searched the third-class stateroom on display, and the upper deck, so..." began Lightning, but before she could continue, there was a knock on the door.

"Miss?" Lightning knew that voice. It was her stewardess.

"Mind staying in the kitchen, Hope?" she asked as she stood and made her way to the door. The bathroom was, thankfully, out of sight to anyone coming in. Hope peeked around the wall separating the main room from the bathroom, curious.

"Who's there?" he asked.

"My delightful stewardess. Who else?" she answered before opening the door to find, who else, but her lovely stewardess standing there, a letter in her hand?

"Excuse me, miss, but I found this on the floor of the elevators. It's addressed to you, so I thought I'd deliver it. It doesn't say who it's from, I'm afraid," she murmured, handing Lightning the note. "Is everything all right in here?" she added, looking around.

"Yes, it's great, Andrea."

"Are you sure? The bathroom's due for new towels soon," Andrea insisted, peeking around Lightning.

"No, I think we're fine for now. If we need anything, we'll tell you." And with that, she shut the door. As she walked away, she muttered, "Not exactly hard to miss you," under her breath.

"What was _that_ all about? And can I come out now?" Hope asked from his place in the bathroom.

"It's simple: I don't trust her. And yes, you can," Lightning replied, throwing herself back on the couch and picked up the diary pages left from the locations she'd searched in Hope's absence. "She gave me another letter, too. I'm guessing it's from our good friend the bomber," she tacked on sarcastically.

"Hey, it's ok," Hope soothed, sitting down beside her on the couch. "Want to read the pages?"

Lightning nodded, and took out the page from the 3rd Class dining area. Lightning cleared her throat and read,

_Friday, April 12_

_I made a startling discovery this morning. It happened when William and I were out exploring this great ship. Oh, William was desperate to visit the top deck and see the open sea. We didn't have much time yesterday, all we did after boarding was eat in the dining room and recreate with the other 3rd Class passengers in the General Room. So, directly after breakfast was served we set about for a stroll. The wind had a bit of a bite to it and we've yet to feel the friendliness of spring's welcoming arms, but bundled up in our coats and hats we were quite warm and comfortable. William was so excited when we went aft to the Poop Deck. We stood at the railing, gazing at the Titanic's monstrous wake. Ireland was no longer visible and it truly made me realise that I truly have seen the last of her shores._

"William...William..." Hope murmured. He knew he'd heard – maybe read – the name before. It was an old-fashioned name. Little did he know that Lightning was having that same sense of recent deja vu.

"Continue?" Lightning asked.

"Next one." Lightning obliged, taking out the second one, and read,

_We were about to return to the General Room to play some cards when I heard a voice from above calling my name. "Ellie?" I turned my attention to the Docking Bridge and received a shock – Edward Ashton-Jones, the man I thought would never see again, was waving to me! He quickly made his way down the staircase and to my great astonishment, threw his arms around me. I was quite embarrassed, to say the least, especially as he then proceeded to introduce me to his companion and fiancé, Cassandra Stone. We chatted casually for a few minutes – I explained that William and I are on our way to New York, while Edward allowed that he and his American bride are to be married soon in Boston._

Lightning didn't need to be told. She simply pulled out the last page and continued on:

_I must confess that I was ill-prepared for such a meeting. It has brought up a host of feelings I thought I had buried years ago. I must try to push Edward out of my mind – he does not know and has quite obviously moved on with his life. Cassandra seemed most at ease with the splendour of this majestic ship. She, of course, offers all the class and breeding I never could. But as I wished them well and took William's hand to lead him below decks, I saw something in her eyes that betrayed her pleasant demeanour when she looked at my son – did she suspect? Does she still? I must endeavour to keep a low profile for the rest of our voyage..._

Silence reigned for a time, as Lightning processed the woman's words from the pages she had collected and Hope thought of where he had heard these names before. A memory floated back to him: sitting on the couch with a laptop resting on his thighs, typing something in...

"What about the letter?" Hope asked, mostly to clear his thoughts. Lightning flipped open the envelope, took out the paper inside and scanned it. Her lips pursed together in annoyance and anger, and a tiny concentrated frown appeared on her face. She handed it to Hope, who read:

_So you see our story travels back 100 years, and involves some passengers aboard the original Titanic. While I can't say more just yet –_ this was probably where Lightning pursed her lips, Hope mused – _you will come to realise that things are not always what they first appear to be. Meanwhile, I bet you're dying to know just who I really am. Well...perhaps I am the good Captain Miller – a captain would certainly have access to anywhere on the ship – including a hiding spot for explosives, right? While you ponder my identity, I 'd suggest you might like to continue your search for diary pages, but do I really need to ask? Your curiosity must be killing you by now, isn't it?_

…

The words from the diary pages – and the letter – circled her mind and battered her skull for hours after reading the words, and hearing them coming from herself as she read them to Hope. She was pissed off about the letter – who wouldn't? – but she had to push it away for now. She had to focus on finding the bomb – and taking down the bomber in question. Who was it? Something told her it was Andrea, her sugar-coated stewardess. Something about her just didn't sit right with her, but she couldn't make any assumptions. Who knows, she might be innocent. However, she still couldn't trust her as far as she could throw her, which wasn't very far, to be honest. Her strength was swordplay, not weights.

Regardless, she couldn't let anything – or anyone – stop her. This was her fight, and hers alone.

But what about Hope?

She knew he would want to protect her, no matter the cost, or whether she says otherwise. He wouldn't be Hope if he didn't. Add her confusing feelings, and his potential ones, if they exist, and it was surprising that Lightning hadn't just ended it all and jumped overboard.

All this was rushing through her head on her way to the Palm Courts with said silver-haired man in tow.

Who said cruises had to be relaxing, carefree and fun? Lightning fought not to scoff at that thought.

_And to think, one bomb and one psychopath has the potential to bring unwanted feelings to the surface and send said psychopath after one particular person. Who knew? _The thought dripped with sarcasm and bitterness.

_Somewhere up there, the Goddess must hate me right now._

* * *

**I tried numerous times to end this chapter, as you might have noticed, but nothing seemed to stick and I just kept writing.**

**Leave love in whatever way possible, preferably with reviews to either me or my friends (Envious sky, Seeker of the skies), and I'll see you soon!**

**Bye, kupos!**


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